I began writing for Forbes in 2010. It was just as the economy was starting to perk up and a fascinating time to cover the stock market, which I did for three months until I switched beats in September 2010. Now I contribute to the Leadership channel, with a focus on jobs and careers–-another hot topic in a time when people are vigorously hunting for jobs or desperately trying to hold on to the ones they have. I have a BA from the University of Arizona and a master's degree in journalism from Hofstra University. Follow me on Twitter @JacquelynVSmith, subscribe to me on Google+, or email me at jsmith [at] forbes [dot] com.

New Research Shows Where Employers Find Their New Hires

Have you ever wondered where companies find their most qualified candidates and new hires? We have the answer: referrals and their own company career sites.

SilkRoad technology, a global provider of social talent management solutions, has teamed up with more than 700 of its customers to uncover which recruitment methods yield the largest number of interviews and hires. It released its findings in a new report titled “Recruitment Marketing Effectiveness: Meaningful Metrics Straight From the Source.”

It turns out that job applications who come in through internal sources get the same number of interviews as ones from outside. However, internal sources, such as employee referrals, inside hires, walk-ins and a company’s career site, produce almost twice the number of hires as external ones, which include job search engines, job boards, print advertising, and job fairs.

“I think a lot of the findings will surprise people, while others will confirm what we’ve known all along,” says Thomas Boyle, director of product marketing at SilkRoad. “What you have to think about is that most companies try and foster internal mobility as part of their employee retention and alignment strategy. So, it’s not uncommon for employees to see and have the opportunity to apply or submit referrals for positions before they ever get released to the public.”

Rather than surveying its clients, SilkRoad collected primary data about them from OpenHire, its applicant tracking system. The data didn’t include anecdotal responses, subjective filtering or any measure of post-hire evaluations, but it did give insight into 222,308 job postings, 9.3 million applications, 147,440 interviews and 94,155 hires.

“This data will help reveal ways for organizations to better optimize recruitment advertising budgets, and discover new sources of hire that other companies are successfully utilizing,” Boyle says.

Of the external recruitment marketing sources—which led to half of all interviews and about a third (37%) of all hires—online sources were by far the most effective. Search engines and job boards produced 94% of the interviews and 86% of the hires among those who utilized external sources.

“I believe this is a reflection of how people and companies are continuing to evolve in their use of the Internet and other mobile technologies,” Boyle says. “Candidates are online and accessible more than ever and things have evolved to where they expect you to have an online presence and message.”

However, when you look at all online sources–internal and external–individual company career sites (which are considered internal) are the No. 1 recruitment source for interviews and hires. “The most important part, in my opinion, of any recruiting strategy is a career site that not only posts your job openings, but powers them with content to really engage candidates and ensure you’re finding the best talent. We can guide candidates to companies all day, but if the content and experience are not there, you’re wasting your recruiting dollars, as career sites have become the new storefront.”

Referrals were the leading internal origin for candidates who got job interviews, followed by company career sites and internal hires, and they were also No. 1 among those who ultimately got hired. “It’s still about who you know,” Boyle says. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that employee referrals are the number one source; those candidates come with built-in recommendations and in many cases have already been sold on your culture and know more about your company than the average external candidate. And those candidates typically hold the highest retention rates as well.”

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

I recently started looking into our big data to get some insights on employee referral. Employee referral is the most effective recruiting tool. Here is what I found. Those who come through employee referral, are hired faster and they stay longer. Please feel free to learn more here:

This is a good article. Not a lot of people utilize indeed.com as much as they probably need to. It’s a great time saver. Another article that complements this one is about developing a strategy to leave one job as you prepare to find another. Here’s a link:

This one is all about how to deal with the stress of putting up with a job you hate and offers strategies we can all use to find better opportunities elsewhere. Not to mention, it explains how stress can affect our attitude as we search for better economic opportunities.

This study confirms what we’ve always known to be true about networking — It’s all about who you know.

Employers could really maximize their internal career sites further by developing talent communities. Within those communities, current employees play a role in making connections between job seekers and hiring managers – leveraing their social connections for referrals. Plus, those current employees can also provide transparency around company culutre and expectations for the role so that the candidates applying are well informed, qualified, and motivated.